Collecting devices for collecting bodily waste, ostomy appliances, wound or fistulae drainage bandages or devices for collecting urine are usually in the form of a receptacle, e.g. a bag, pouch or tube for receiving the waste, connected to an adhesive wafer that can be attached to the user's skin. The wafer is typically in the form of a backing layer coated on the skin-facing surface with an adhesive layer, and the wafer may further be provided with an aperture for accommodating the body opening. The size and shape of said aperture can often be adapted individually to fit the anatomy of the patient.
One of the crucial parts of such devices is the adhesive wafer. The wafer should be able to fit leak proof around the body opening and have good adherence to the skin without unintended detachment from the skin, but at the same time the wafer should be easy to remove again without damaging the skin. Furthermore, the wafer should be able to follow the movements of the body and be comfortable to wear. The components of the wafer, the adhesive and the backing layer determine these properties.
Pressure sensitive adhesives have for a long time been used for attaching medical devices, such as ostomy appliances, dressings (including wound dressings), wound drainage bandages, fistula drainage devices, devices for collecting urine, orthoses and prostheses to the skin.
The adhesive of such devices is usually a hydrocolloid adhesive coated in a relatively thick layer on a backing layer, and combined with the fact that this adhesive is rather stiff, the device may be inflexible and bulky to wear.
Ostomy wafers with softer adhesives are already known. These have been developed in order to solve some of the above problems such as inflexibility and bulkiness. Such soft adhesives may for example be silicone adhesives. Although such adhesives solve problems regarding comfort due to their softness they may be complicated to remove from the skin. Being soft and flexible, they stretch and are difficult to control. In some cases they may even tear during removal from the skin.
Thus, there exists a need to reduce the risk that the adhesive wafer is greatly deformed or torn when removed from the skin.